WinFrotz Version 1.08	(see Revision.txt for update info)

WinFrotz is a Win95/NT native version of Frotz, the Z-machine interpreter from
Stefan Jokisch. Stefan's code was in turn based on Mark Howell's Zip. My (Rich
Lawrence) contribution to this was simply to hack up Stefan's version so it
would support the Win32 Console instead of DOS. Christopher J. Madsen did the
OS/2 port, from which the alias code in this version comes from (used with 
permission).

You should find WinFrotz a better experience under Win95/NT than the DOS
version because it more efficiently shares the CPU and resources (sound) with
Windows. There is a fully Windows version of WinFrotz called WinFrotz 5.XX
available as well; you can get it from http://www.cris.com/~Twist/WinFrotz/.
I keep this (console) version going because it's great for laptops and has 
full screen text mode via Alt-Enter, which makes it feel just like running 
an old Infocom game.

Differences in WinFrotz from DOS Frotz:

 * WinFrotz does not support the graphical Infocom games (ie Zork Zero).
   WinFrotz 5.XX does this if you want to play those games.

 * Due to limitations in the Win32 Console, I can't use a graphical font
   ('Beyond Zork') or underline text. Color is supported however, as well as 
   reverse video and emphasis.

 * WinFrotz can create a console of any size (row/column) up to what your
   screen will display. You have to pass command line parameters to it to
   accomplish this, resizing when running doesn't work.

 * You can vary the size of the input cursor from 1 to 100% of a character
   using the -s ??? command line/shortcut parameter

 * WinFrotz will use standard Window file dialogs for save/restore operations
   unless told not to do so on the command line/shortcut using the -D 0
   option

 * WinFrotz can switch between full screen and window mode via ALT-ENTER

I hope folks out there get a kick out of playing using WinFrotz. If you're one
of those snobs who thinks text adventures are over with, I've got two things to
say to you: 1) Why the hell did you download WinFrotz and 2) Too bad, you are 
missing out on some of the best writing done for computer games, even if it
doesn't have pretty graphics with it.

-Rich Lawrence	rich@kesmai.com	CIS:71101,2272	AOL:KesmaiRL
Check out Kesmai, the company I work for, at www.kesmai.com. We make online
games, and have been making them for 15 years (that's right, 15).

                        Special Console-Mode Notes

  Console mode apps are rare so I'll point out a couple of things here - first,
cut and paste don't work very well (you have to right click on the title bar of
the console). Second, you can make a console go into a special "full screen"
mode which is really the ol' familiar text modes. Just hit ALT-ENTER when the
console is up. You can even pass WinFrotz a -h 50 (height 50) parameter, hit
ALT-ENTER, and you'll get 50 line text mode. Neato torpedo. You can get the
Toolbar for WinFrotz by right-clicking on the menu bar and selecting
Properties... then click on the Screen tab, then "Show Toolbar".
  WinFrotz WILL normally display Explorer style dialog boxes when saving/
loading files. You can overload this by passing a -D 0 parameter at launch. If
you have the screen in text mode when you do a save/restore operation, WinFrotz
will default to standard text prompts for the file operation. The reason for
this is the file dialog box will not focus to switch you out of text mode, so it
would look like WinFrotz was hung (experimenting with all this was quite an
adventure in of itself, let me tell you). Since I can't force the dialog box to
front, I figured you might as get text prompts. If you can't stand them hit
ALT-ENTER before you try the save/restore operation.
  Console apps don't resize like you're used to. If you want to make the text 
larger, look at how to change fonts in the Q/A section here. If you want to
display more characters per line or more lines, use the -h or -w parameters.

                             WinFrotz edit keys

  WinFrotz supports just about every editing style of previous Frotzes (Frotzi?)
on the edit line. Here is a list of key combinations and what they do:

SPECIAL KEYS: (Frotz DOS & OS/2 keys supported)
    Alt-A             - alias menu (also Options/Alias)
    Alt-D             - debugging menu (Options/Debugging)
    Alt-N             - new game (restart) (File/Restart)
    Alt-P             - turn on input line playback (File/Open/Recording)
    Alt-R             - input line recording on/off (File/Save/Recording)
    Alt-S             - set the random seed
    Alt-U             - multiple UNDO (even for old V1 to V4 games)
    Alt-X             - exit game (quit)

    Ctrl-A      home              - move to beginning of line
    Alt-B       ctrl-cursor left  - move to previous word
                ctrl-cursor right - move to next word
    Ctrl-B  or  cursor left       - move one character to the left
    Ctrl-D      delete            - delete character below cursor
                ctrl-delete       - delete word below cursor
                insert            - toggle overwrite mode on/off
    Ctrl-E      end               - move to end of line
    Ctrl-F      cursor right      - move one character to the right
    Ctrl-H      backspace         - delete character to the left
                ctrl-backspace    - delete word to the left
    Ctrl-L      scrollback        - view scrollback buffer
    Ctrl-N      cursor down       - get next command
    Ctrl-P      cursor up         - get previous command
    Ctrl-T                        - transpose characters
    Ctrl-U      escape            - delete whole input line

Command line options:

    -d #     set the display mode (0 mono, 1 text, 2 CGA, 3 MCGA, 4 EGA)

    -f #     set the foreground colour
    -b #     set the background colour
    -e #     set the emphasis colour
    -F #     set the foreground colour for reverse mode
    -B #     set the background colour for reverse mode

    -w #     set the screen width
    -h #     set the screen height
    -l #     set the left margin
    -r #     set the right margin
    -c #     set the number of context lines to keep when scrolling

    -u #     set the number of undo slots for multiple undo

    -v #     set the minimum sound level
    -V #     set the maximum sound level

    -o       monitor object movement
    -O       monitor object locating
    -a       monitor attribute assignment
    -A       monitor attribute testing

    -t       set the Tandy bit (see below)

    Colours and sound levels range from 0 to 15.

WinFrotz Q/A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q. Uh, what is this for again?
A. It's an interpreter for Z-code or 'ZIP' games. This was the language used by
   Infocom in writing their text adventures, and is still used today by many 
   authors writing interactive fiction. Usually a game will come in the form of
   a single data file, such as LURKING.DAT (Lurking Horror). You just load that 
   with WinFrotz (either on the command line or by drag and drop).

Q. Hey I remember those games, where can I get them?
A. Do not even think about e-mailing me for an Infocom game, as you will get 
   nada in reply (they are copyrighted). However there is for now an incredible
   deal on the Infocom stuff from Activision: You can get 30+ Infocom products
   on a single CD for $20. Can't beat that. Check www.activision.com, the 
   package is called Masterpieces of Infocom.

   You can also get lots of public domain stories on the net. Check out
   ftp.gmd.de, the home of SPAG, an internet-zine dedicated to interactive 
   fiction.

Q. Is Frotz/WinFrotz freeware? 
A. Yup. No money wanted, no money accepted. If you feel compelled ask Stefan, he 
   wrote all the hard stuff. If you really like WinFrotz and want to help in some
   way, check out the Kesmai web site (the company I work for) at www.kesmai.com
   or go to keyword KESMAI on AOL/CIS/Prodigy.

Q. It's not DOS, but what's the point?
A. Two main reasons: 1) WinFrotz doesn't peg the CPU like running Frotz in a
   DOS session would (this is not an error in Frotz, it's just the way DOS
   apps behave under Windows) and 2) Because it's Windows native, it's much
   friendlier about memory and other system resources when running.

Q. How do I change the font displayed?
A. Float the mouse cursor over the title bar for WinFrotz, right-click, and 
   select properties. Select the Font tab and pick away. You can't grab just
   any font for a Console app; it needs to be a fixed pitch one - Windows 
   will show you only the fonts that apply.

Q. Which games work with WinFrotz? 
A. I've tested the following Infocom games:
   ---------------------------------------
   A Mind Forever Voyaging
   Ballyhoo
   Beyond Zork(**)
   Border Zone
   Bureaucracy
   Cutthroats
   Deadline
   Enchanter
   Hollywood Hijinx
   Infidel
   Leather Goddesses of Phobos
   Lurking Horror (*)
   Moonmist
   Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It
   Planetfall (great game)
   Plundered Hearts
   Seastalker
   Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels(*)
   Sorcerer
   Spellbreaker
   Starcross
   StationFall
   Suspect
   Suspended
   Trinity
   Wishbringer
   Witness, The
   Zork I
   Zork II
   Zork III

   * - Supports sound, providing you have the sound files
  ** - No graphical font support, so it looks a little weird. Also use / and \
       keys to scroll through selection menu instead of arrows

   Games that do not work (and why):
   --------------------------------
   Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur - Don't have graphics support for this game.
   Zork Zero: Ditto above.
   Journey: Ditto again, but basically works.
   Shogun: You know the story. 

   All of these games work with the full Windows version of WinFrotz, available
   from http://www.cris.com/~Twist/WinFrotz

   I've also tested many public domain games from ftp.gmd.de, and they all 
   seemed fine. Usually you can tell the correct kind since they will end in 
   .dat or .Z3, .Z5, etc.

Q. How do people write these newer games?
A. Most of them use a compiler called Inform. You can find details about it and
   TADS (a similar system) from ftp.gmd.de.

Q. I like the style of these games, but I'd still prefer something more modern,
   where do I look?
A. The only games I've found of comparable depth to the original Infocom games
   in terms of storyline is the stuff from Legend Entertainment. Not surprising
   considering Legend has had various old Infocom employees working for them. I
   am not affiliated with Legend in any way, in case you're wondering. Just
   like (some of) their games.

Q. How come the game doesn't have the icon built in, but has one supplied as a 
   seperate file? 
A. Because Win95 is broken for Console apps with icons. It works right under NT.
   The only way to make the icon take effect is create a shortcut to WinFrotz,
   then select properties for the shortcut, change icon, and select the WinFrotz
   icon. Don't ask me...

Q. Where do I get the sound files?
A. For some reason, Activision never wants to distribute these. You can find
   them at ftp.gmd.de in /if-archive/infocom/missing-files. NOTE: I haven't 
   tested sound extensively. However, it was a pain to add, so somebody please
   test it on Lurking Horror and make sure it works right. In particular I'm
   curious what happens with long "looping" sounds. It SHOULD work.....
   NOTE2: Activision did NOT distribute a Sherlock.dat file that has sound 
   support with Masterpieces. However, you can gets Stefan's converter utility
   in the archive at ftp.gmd.de and that will modify your .dat file to support
   sound.
